Saturday, February 18, 2017

The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1936)

H.G. Wells helped expand and adapt his own short story of the same title The Man Who Could Work Miracles into this comedy fantasy picture for famed English producer Alexander Korda. As part of a bet between three God's, one of whom is played by a young George Sanders, an Essex haberdashers assistant (Roland Young) is granted nearly limitless super human powers, which he spends the whole movie dithering over how to use. Intriguing premise feels largely squandered, this movie aims for the fanciful but comes off dull and ineffectually preachy. I have a similar feeling about the work of George Bernard Shaw, and Well's earlier fiction is much better then this, maybe its a Fabian Society thing. *1/2

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